top picks What s your favorite annual? We garden gate readers annuals

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1 top garden gate readers 11 picks annuals What s your favorite annual? We asked our readers to share their favorites, and here they are! Long bloom time, bright colors, easy to grow...that s what you said about these plants, and we couldn t agree more. One or two of these plants are actually tender perennials, but most people grow them as annuals. In case you re wondering why a couple of old stand-bys, like geraniums, aren t on the list, it s because we narrowed down your answers to annuals that you told us you usually plant in the ground, not in containers. One of the best things about annuals is that you can find lots of cultivars at local garden centers. Check out the boxes at the bottom of each description for a few specific cultivars to look for. In From the Test Garden on p. 48, we ll show you how to care for annuals to get great flowers all summer. You can start any of these from seed indoors, but in our list, I ll let you know if you can direct sow the seeds outdoors or if you re better off buying plants at the garden center. However you get started, you re off to a showy summer! Stephanie Polsley Bruner Marigold Tagetes spp. Even if you don t like the smell of marigolds (although I do!), you have to love the nonstop color. can be 6 or 8 inches tall (like Janie Flame shown here) to 3 feet tall, and flowers can be 1 to 3 inches across. As long as they re warm enough, marigolds don t need a lot of care. They like full sun, and while they tolerate drought, they ll flower better with plenty of moisture. If marigolds are drought-stressed, you may find spider mites on them the leaves turn bronze-green and there s webbing on the undersides. Just hose off the plants, then keep them well-watered for the rest of the season. Size 6 to 36 in. tall, 8 to 16 in. wide Blooms Yellow, orange, red, bicolors; single or double Pests Occasional spider mites Huge, clear-yellow flowers: Inca Yellow Hybrid White flowers and no odor: French Vanilla 18 JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 GARDEN GATE

2 Petunia Petunia hybrid Readers love petunias for their bright colors and spreading habit. They can have single or double flowers, and they come in a range of colors. Small, mounding ones are great in containers, while spreaders like this Wave Purple, shown here with annual salvia, spill over retaining walls or cover a lot of ground. New cultivars have flowers that stand up to rain and wind better than the old-timers did. To keep petunias blooming their best, give them plenty of water. You may need to pinch them back a bit if they get straggly, but many of the newer hybrids don t even need that much care. Size 6 to 18 in. tall by 1 to 5 ft. wide Blooms White, pink, red, purple, blue; may have striped petals or contrasting veins; large or small flowers; double or single forms Pests Occasional aphids or slugs Pink with a white eye: Easy Wave Rosy Dawn Bright colors with white stripes: Razzle Dazzle hybrid mix Zinnia Zinnia hybrid Most of us planted a pack of zinnia seeds as kids. And we never outgrew these sizzling bright colors. State Fair Mix, planted with statice in the photo above, is a classic. Some zinnias have rounded, ball-shaped blooms (dahlia-flowered), while others have spiky petals (cactus-flowered). Upright zinnias can be 3 to 4 feet tall with blooms 4 or 5 inches across, while spreading, ground cover types, like the Profusion series, grow only a foot tall. You re not the only one in the garden who likes zinnias. Butterflies love em! They re also a great cut flower the more you pick, the better the plants branch. Size 10 to 48 in. tall by 6 to 18 in. wide Blooms Any color but blue; may be spotted or streaked; double or single Pests Powdery mildew in mid- to late summer Unusual flower shape: Red Spider Eye-catching red-and-yellow blooms: Old Mexico 19 JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 GARDEN GATE GARDEN GATEwww.GardenGateMagazine.com 19

3 readers top annuals continued Snapdragon Antirrhinum hybrid Greet the spring with these cool-season beauties. In USDA zone 7 and warmer, snapdragons are often planted in fall so they ll bloom in the spring, then they re removed to make way for summer annuals. But in colder gardens, you can plant them either in early spring for cool-weather color or in late summer to enjoy fall blooms. I like the short ones best, like Chimes Yellow above, because they stand up without staking. But you can stake the taller ones, and they make beautiful cut flowers. Some new trailing snapdragons are available, and they re a bit more heat-tolerant than other snaps. Size 6 to 36 in. tall by 8 to 12 in. wide Blooms Yellow, peach, orange, burgundy, red, pink, white, bicolor; most are single, a few are double to part shade Pests Rust may be a problem in hot weather Trailing: Lampion Mix Dark-red flowers: Black Prince Tall, white spikes: Royal Bride Spider flower Cleome hassleriana It may be called spider flower, but I think these blooms look like fireworks. Either way, the plants attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden. The only drawback? To most people, they smell like a skunk, but it s only noticeable if you re very close or handling the foliage. Spider flower s stems can look ratty at the base, so plant something shorter in front, like the red celosia with the Sparkler White spider flower in the photo. Reseeding can be a bit of a problem, but the little seedlings are easy to pull. Or snip off the seed pods as they form along the stem to keep the plant from reseeding. Size 18 to 48 in. tall by 12 to 36 in. wide Blooms White, pink, purple; bicolor Short, 18-in. plants: White Spider Pink-and-white flowers: Sparkler Blush 20 JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 GARDEN GATE

4 Nicotiana Impatiens Nicotiana hybrid Impatiens walleriana They re sometimes called flowering tobacco, but there s nothing smoky about these flowers. This is an old cottage garden favorite, but new, shorter hybrids with showier flowers, like Apple Blossom in the photo, work in any garden. Nicotiana can be very fragrant, but some new cultivars have been bred for looks, not fragrance. If you want the sweet scent, check the tags to be sure you re getting one that smells good. Hummingbirds flock to nicotiana flowers, too. In areas with cool summers, nicotiana likes full sun, but in USDA zone 6 and warmer, it does better with afternoon shade. These may be the most popular annuals in the world and also with our readers! Plant them among hostas for summer color, or grow them in containers on the patio. You ll find mixes, like the Super Elfin mix in the photo, or single colors. Some are double, looking almost like miniature roses. They aren t fragrant, but they re so pretty that it doesn t really matter much. Impatiens are slow to get started in cool spring weather, so plant them a little later than most annuals. I keep a couple of old sheets handy to cover mine in case of a light frost in early fall as they re very sensitive to cold. 21 G7518_23.indd 21 Size 12 to 36 in. tall by 12 to 24 in. wide Blooms White, yellow, pink, red, purple, green Pests Occasional aphids Sweet scent and dark-purple flowers: Perfume Deep Purple Pink petals with lime-green backs: Tinkerbell JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 Size 6 to 18 in. tall and wide Blooms White, pink, purple, red, orange; bicolors; picotee edges; singles and doubles Light Part shade Pests Occasional slugs Double flowers: Fiesta series Light-pink flowers with darkpink edge: Dazzler Rose Swirl G A R D E N G A TG E A R D E N G A T Ewww.GardenGateMagazine.com 21 3/14/2007 1:32:37 PM

5 readers top annuals continued Cosmos Cosmos spp. Nothing looks as airy as a planting of cosmos. And boy, can they bloom! In fact, they may bloom so heavily that the plants start to fade. If that happens, just sow some more seed in midsummer to keep the show going. Sulfur cosmos has yellow, orange or red flowers in 1- to 2-foot-tall plants, like Polidor in the main photo. Tall cosmos comes in shades of white, pink and burgundy, and the plants are usually 3 to 4 feet tall. (That s Seashell in the small inset photo.) Both types are often sold as color mixes. Plant cosmos in clumps for a really dramatic look. Those wiry stems make great cut flowers. Size 1 to 4 ft. tall by 1 to 2 ft. wide Blooms White, pink, burgundy, orange, red, yellow; picotee edges; rolled petals Double flowers, color mix: Double Click tall cosmos Bright orange-red flowers: Dwarf Ladybird Scarlet sulfur cosmos Globe amaranth Gomphrena spp. I love unusual flowers, and these balls of color are certainly unique. Strawberry Fields, above, is a little taller than most globe amaranth, at 18 to 24 inches. Other hybrids, like Bicolor Rose, tend to be a bit smaller. But other than that, all globe amaranths have the same papery, long-lasting blossoms. And speaking of papery blossoms, those aren t petals, they re bracts. (The true flowers are tiny and yellow you might not even notice them.) Globe amaranth dries well, like most papery flowers. Cut the blooms when they ve just opened, and hang them in a dry, shady place. Size 6 to 24 in. tall by 6 to 12 in. wide Blooms White, pink, purple, lavender, red Pale lavender flowers, darker at the tips: Lavender Queen 6-in.-tall plants: Gnome Purple 22 JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 GARDEN GATE

6 Lantana Lantana camara Great for hot summers, lantana not only stands up to heat, but thrives in it. This is the plant you ll want in your garden in August when everything else is drooping. (And it ll be surrounded by butterflies, too.) See how Confetti lantana in the photo has two colors in the same flower cluster? That s common with lantanas often the blooms are one color in bud, then they change to another as they age. This is a tender perennial. (You can keep it over the winter in a container.) Where lantana is hardy, it s a woody shrub, but if you re growing it as an annual in a cooler area, it won t get quite so big. Size 1 to 6 ft. tall by 2 to 8 ft. wide Blooms White, yellow, pink, orange, red; many have multiple colors in a single flower Solid-yellow flowers: Sonshine Bright-red flowers, hardier than most: Miss Huff Pastel pinks and yellows: Tropical Fruit Tall verbena Verbena bonariensis Looking for an airy filler plant? Look no further! This verbena is cold-hardy to USDA zone 7, but elsewhere, it reseeds happily. You can pinch off or cut back the flowers as they fade, before the plant sets seed. Or just pull the unwanted seedlings in spring. My favorite thing about this verbena is that when it comes up in my flower bed next spring, it never comes up quite where it was before. It often creates beautiful combinations that I wouldn t have considered. I like it at the back of the flower border, where it weaves up through other plants. (And they ll help cover the bare verbena stems.) Size 3 to 5 ft. tall by 1 to 2 ft. wide Blooms Lavender Shorter verbena hybrid: Homestead Purple Spike-shaped flowers: Blue vervain (Verbena hastata) 23 JUNE 2007 / ISSUE 75 GARDEN GATE GARDEN GATEwww.GardenGateMagazine.com 23